Summary

Delver decks in Legacy have been a main feature of the format since the powerful 1 mana creature was printed. However, Delver hasn’t consistently been on top of the Modern metagame in quite the same way. The combination of less exciting spells surrounding it and the extra hoops needed to jump through to ensure that Delver of Secrets flips makes Modern ports of the archetype always fall short. However, shifts in the metagame and some new additions could see 1 mana 3/2 flyers all over Modern in the coming months.

As the deck name would suggest, Delver of Secrets plays a critical role in this deck, as it is the primary source of attacking in tempo-oriented decks such as this one. A 3/2 flyer for 1 mana is a great rate, especially if you can protect it and ride it to victory over several turns. To compliment the Delver beatdown, this deck also plays Tarmogoyf, which is a similarly undercosted creature that, while not flying, does get large chunks of damage in if left unanswered.

The other creatures in this deck, Snapcaster Mage and Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy aren’t in this deck for the early game beatdowns, but are both extremely powerful for this strategy. Snapcaster Mage allows you to rebuy any instant or sorcery you’ve cast earlier in the game for a measly two mana while providing a potentially important body. Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy is another threat from this deck that demands an answer. If it’s allowed to stick on the board, it filters through cards on the front end and can be extremely card advantageous while protecting itself on the back end.

As for the suite of instants and sorceries, this deck plays a wide variety, as four colors allows this deck to pick the best of the format. Serum Visions and Opt are powerful draw spells that are very relevant in this tempo strategy, especially Visions, which allows this deck to set the top of its library and flip Delver. Cryptic Command, Mana Leak, and Remand are the counter spells of this deck, each providing a little something different. Cryptic can be somewhat hard to cast, but Mana Leak and Remand are really at the sweet spot of this deck, the former being a hard counter in the early game and the latter delaying the opponent for a turn while drawing a card. Finally, this deck plays several different removal spells in Fatal Push, Kolaghan’s Command, Lightning Bolt, and Terminate, each of which offers a little something different to warrant its inclusion.